Paleoproterozoic thermotectogenesis: A rotation-plume model of the formation of the Aldan Shield

The Aldan Shield—the southern segment of the Aldan-Stanovoi sialic nuclear, 1100 km in diameter—is subdivided into an inner granulite-gneiss and an outer amphibolite-gneiss domain. This heterogeneity arose in the Paleoproterozoic as a result of thermotectogenesis, i.e., the sum of magmatism, metamorphism, and deformation superimposed on the older Archean crust. In addition to metamorphic heterogeneity, the main consequences of the Paleoproterozoic thermotectogenesis comprised the emplacement of mafic dikes of various ages and the centrifugal evolution of a radial tectonomagmatic system consisting of complementary granitoids and anorthosites. Thermotectogenesis proceeded in a pulsatory manner with alternation of extension and compression settings in the near-equatorial epi-Archean supercontinent. These consequences and the mechanism of pulsatory evolution are described by a model of plume-related underplating in combination with the change of the Earth’s rotation in the regime of oscillatory evolution of the Earth-Moon system.